Archived Assessment Report
| Program | Liberal Arts AA Degree |
| Assessment Reporter | [email protected] |
| Theme | Practicing Community |
| Review Year | 2024-2025 - Final Report |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| 5. Effective Communication | What percentage of students demonstrate effective communication at the excellent, competent, and needs improvement levels? |
| 6. Demonstrate organization and/or coherence of ideas, content, and/or formulas | What percentage of students are demonstrating effective communication strategies, such as organization and coherence of of ideas and content, at the excellent, competent, and needs improvement levels? |
| 7. Produce communication appropriate to audience, situation, venue, and/or context | What percentage of students demonstrate contextual communication at the excellent, competent, and needs improvement levels? |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population or Courses Assessed | Hypothetical Analysis/Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. Effective Communication | A rubric will be used to ascertain the percentage of students that demonstrate effective communication at the excellent, competent, and needs improvement levels. | Since this is a degree program made up of courses from different departments, common courses taken by students will be randomly assessed. This year COMM 2120 will be used to collect data. | At least 70% or more of the students will demonstrate effective communication at the competent or higher level. |
| 6. Demonstrate organization and/or coherence of ideas, content, and/or formulas | A rubric will be used to ascertain the percentage of students that demonstrate effective communication strategies at the excellent, competent, and needs improvement levels. | Since this is a degree program made up of courses from different departments, common courses taken by students will be randomly assessed. This year COMM 2120 will be used to collect data. | At least 70% or more of the students will demonstrate effective communication strategies at the competent or higher level. |
| 7. Produce communication appropriate to audience, situation, venue, and/or context | A rubric will be used to ascertain the percentage of students that demonstrate contextual communication at the excellent, competent, and needs improvement levels. | Since this is a degree program made up of courses from different departments, common courses taken by students will be randomly assessed. This year COMM 2120 will be used to collect data. | At least 70% or more of the students will demonstrate contextual communication at the competent or higher level. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Results | Reflection on Focus Area | Intepretation of Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. Effective Communication | 82.75% of students met the threshold of competent (a rubric score of 70% or higher) and demonstrated effective communication. | These results exceed expectations as the original hypothesis predicted at least 70% would meet the set threshold. | This shows us that students in these courses have the necessary skills to communicate effectively. |
| 6. Demonstrate organization and/or coherence of ideas, content, and/or formulas | 81.57% of students met the threshold of competent (a rubric score of 70% or higher) and demonstrated effective communication and the ability to organize ideas, content, and/or formulas. | These results exceed expectations as the original hypothesis predicted at least 70% would meet the set threshold. | This shows us that students in these courses have the necessary skills to communicate effectively. |
| 7. Produce communication appropriate to audience, situation, venue, and/or context | 83.92% of students met the threshold of competent (a rubric score of 70% or higher) and were able to produce communicate appropriate to audience, situation, venue, and/or context. | These results exceed expectations as the original hypothesis predicted at least 70% would meet the set threshold. | This shows us that students in these courses have the necessary skills to communicate effectively. |
| 5. Effective Communication | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | The focus will be on improving the data collection process. Instructors will collect data during a similar timeframe, towards the end of the course being assessed, to enhance accuracy and reliability of the data. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | The changes will require a change in the assessment approach. |
| What data motivated the change? | Refining the assessment collecting process will help improve data accuracy to make better informed decisions moving forward. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | By collecting data during a similar timeframe, there will be a more accurate understanding of what percentage of students are meeting the outcomes. |
| 6. Demonstrate organization and/or coherence of ideas, content, and/or formulas | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | The focus will be on improving the data collection process. Instructors will collect data during a similar timeframe, towards the end of the course being assessed, to enhance accuracy and reliability of the data. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | The changes will require a change in the assessment approach. |
| What data motivated the change? | Refining the assessment collecting process will help improve data accuracy to make better informed decisions moving forward. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | By collecting data during a similar timeframe, there will be a more accurate understanding of what percentage of students are meeting the outcomes. |
| 7. Produce communication appropriate to audience, situation, venue, and/or context | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | The focus will be on improving the data collection process. Instructors will collect data during a similar timeframe, towards the end of the course being assessed, to enhance accuracy and reliability of the data. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | The changes will require a change in the assessment approach. |
| What data motivated the change? | Refining the assessment collecting process will help improve data accuracy to make better informed decisions moving forward. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | By collecting data during a similar timeframe, there will be a more accurate understanding of what percentage of students are meeting the outcomes. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population of Courses Assessed |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Effective Communication | A rubric will be used to collected data for a written assignment. | COMM 2120 |
| 6. Demonstrate organization and/or coherence of ideas, content, and/or formulas | A rubric will be used to collected data for a written assignment. | COMM 2120 |
| 7. Produce communication appropriate to audience, situation, venue, and/or context | A rubric will be used to collected data for a written assignment. | COMM 2120 |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Second Round Results | Intepretation of Results, Pre- and Post-Change | Follow up questions, possible next steps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. Effective Communication | 79.29% of students met the threshold of competent (a rubric score of 70% or higher) and demonstrated effective communication. | Possible next steps could include refining the assessment rubric or requiring all instructors to use the same assignment to collect the data. | |
| 6. Demonstrate organization and/or coherence of ideas, content, and/or formulas | 77.66% of students met the threshold of competent (a rubric score of 70% or higher) and demonstrated effective communication and the ability to organize ideas, content, and/or formulas. | Possible next steps could include refining the assessment rubric or requiring all instructors to use the same assignment to collect the data. | |
| 7. Produce communication appropriate to audience, situation, venue, and/or context | 81.91% of students met the threshold of competent (a rubric score of 70% or higher) and were able to produce communicate appropriate to audience, situation, venue, and/or context | Possible next steps could include refining the assessment rubric or requiring all instructors to use the same assignment to collect the data. |
Describe any change in student achievement observed as part of this assessment process, and what led to those changes.
There was a slight decrease the percentage of students demonstrating competency in all outcomes assessed. One potential reason is that the rubric used to collect the 2nd round of assessment data was attached the final assignment in the course. Given that this was the final assignment, instructors may have been more stringent with grading and may have held higher expectations for the content student’s submitted. Since the decrease was not significant, another reason could be attributed natural variations between student cohorts.
Describe long-term changes in the program(s) that the assessment process led to, and what motivated those changes?
During this initial 2-year cycle and theme, the aim was to improve data collection processes. Lessons learned in collecting assessment data will be applied to improve future collection processes.
What did you learn about the teaching and learning of "Practicing Community" in your programs?
It was learned that 77.66% - 83.92% of students are demonstrating competency of the skillsets mapped to this theme. These skillsets include:
- effective communication
- organize ideas, content, and/or formulas
- produce communication appropriate to audience, situation, venue, and/or context
These skillsets align with interpersonal communication competence which supports the theme of Practicing Community by equipping students with the abilities needed to participate effectively and appropriately in the diverse roles essential to their success and well-being within relationships, groups, and communities.
Describe any external factors affecting the program or affecting assessment of the program.
External factors such as attendance, engagement, or support availability could have influenced the data collected.